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New Uses for “Geofencing”: News Apps Jump on the Geofencing Wagon

News Apps recently announced they are using geofencing technology to automatically update the latest content on the user’s mobile device. A form of location-based downloading, virtual fences are drawn around certain regions, like home or work. When these boundaries are crossed, actions such as downloading content from a news app will be triggered.

Applications such as Instapaper and Paperboy have launched this feature to provide users with the latest news without having to manually download content, because who has the time really?

Geofencing has propelled background downloading into a new age of technology. It is no longer limited to places of connectivity or bound by Apple’s once-a-day limit. Geofencing can even be applicable to location-based reminders, where once a certain boundary is crossed, say at a supermarket, the user can be alerted to run a certain errand.